In Chapters 1–5 we have looked at the key technological developments that make the production of digital products possible. We have seen how publishers have had to reorganise themselves in order to accommodate new digital production methods and data storage, as well as the devices that are driving the consumer market forward and the new opportunities that may lie ahead. In Part II we will look at each of the main publishing sectors in order to see how they have developed digital products and what the key issues are for their future.
Books
There are many detailed technical books on each of these subjects for the specialist. There are also many very general technology books on topics like Web 2.0 and HTML5 which do not specifically look at the publishing industry but provide interesting context. Below are just a few useful references that do focus on publishing and are suitable for the non-technical but interested reader, together with some websites that it is very useful to follow.
Bullock, Adrian. Book Production. Routledge, 2012.
Dykes, Lucinda and Tittel, Ed. XML for Dummies. Wiley, 2005.
Kasdorf, William (ed.). The Columbia Guide to Digital Publishing. Columbia University Press, 2003.
Register, Renee and McIlroy, Thad. The Metadata Handbook, 2012; available at www.themetadatahandbook.com/2012.
Tittel, Ed and Noble, Jeff, HTML, XHTML and CSS for Dummies. Wiley, 2011.
Websites
jwikert.typepad.com – an interesting blog from a publisher thinking about the future of publishing
www.bic.org.uk – Book Industry Communication, the organisation for the UK book industry, which undertakes a variety of activities such as best practice, standards, classification systems and accreditation around the book industry supply chain, covering anything from digital production to e-commerce
www.bisg.org – Book Industry Study Group in the US, which oversees a variety of activities, including standards, best practice and policy
www.crossref.org – for information on CrossRef
www.editeur.org/8/ONIX – for information on ONIX
www.idpf.org – the standards organisation behind EPUB
www.nielsenbookdata.co.uk – follow the link to the white paper by Nielsen on metadata mentioned in Chapter 2
www.w3.org – World Wide Web consortium for information on HTML5
www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/ChandosHome.aspx – Chandos Publishing has a range of books that explore developments in the web in relation to library and publishing practice
Chapter 1
- Thinking of Thompson’s framework for developments in digital publishing, why did it take longer for digital products to be developed compared to other digital developments?
- Print on demand is helping keep some products financially feasible, such as monograph publishing; however, if those markets continue to decline, what further developments might be needed to make these products sustainable?
Chapter 2
- Why is XML so critical to the development of digital publishing?
- How might you explain the importance of its metadata to a publishing house?
Chapter 3
- What features of the growth of the web and Web 2.0 have had an impact on publishing?
- Why is the semantic web an exciting development?
Chapter 4
- What sort of information would you need to construct a detailed specification for a new digital product and how would you go about getting it?
- What can a good CMS bring to a publishing company? What sort of benefits and problems might this mean for a small organisation?
Chapter 5
- What has led to the ‘tipping point’ in sales of ebooks?
- Some predict that the market for a single-use e-reading device will become saturated as it is mostly of interest to keen book buyers; what impact will that have for the growth of ebook sales?